Search for a Criminal Mind: Christmas Special
by mayejrmorris
Summary: A series of interlocking holiday themed one-shots. Rated T for some mature content that might apear but is not quite rated M. Reid and Rossi (not slash), Will and J.J., Morgan and Garcia, Hotch and Jessica, Prentiss and Mick.
1. Christmas Shoes Part1

**Christmas Shoes**

**Characters: David Rossi, Spencer Reid**

Hi my name is David Rossi, I am a middle aged man and I work as a profiler for the FBI, I am on my third wife. I was tired and over worked and on my way to the mall from his hotel. I was in Las Vegas, Nevada (I had been working on a case) and there was no sign of snow but I knew there would be when I got back home to Virginia tomorrow morning on Christmas Eve, it was likely that there would be a thick layer of snow on the ground. I would rather be in my hotel room with a glass of scotch and a nice book but my wife wanted me to stop and get a few last minute gifts for her sister and her kids.

I left my car in a nearby parking garage and slipped into a department store that was getting closer to closing time. I went to the jewelry department first to get the necklace my wife said would be perfect for her sister. I found it and paid for it right then. After the jewelry department and made my way to the toy department. Once I was there I picked out a few toys for my sister-in-law's kids. With my arms full of gifts I moved toward the front of the store near the main registers. When I got in line there were three people. There was one man holding a small box in his hand. There was a young woman clutching a couple of Christmas stockings. Last but not least there was a little boy holding onto a shoe box for dear life. The shoes were clearly for a woman by the picture displayed on the side.

Looking closer at the little boy I could see that his clothe while they were nice they were a little worn and old. The boys face was even covered in layer of dirt. The boy obviously looked like he had been neglected and I had half a mind to call the Las Vegas branch DFS but even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to because I left my cell phone back into my car.

"Next." The cashier called. The man walked away and the woman stepped up and placed her things onto the counter. The cashier quickly rung up her things and placed them in a bag and the woman quickly walked away.

David's focus turned to the little boy in front of him.

"How can I help you?" The cashier asked.

"I want to buy these shoes for my mama please; you see she's been sick for quite a while And I know these shoes would make her smile." The boy answered. He pushed the shoes on top of it. He then started to dig through his pants and shirt pockets for all the money he had. The tossed it on to the counter for the cashier to count.

"I'm sorry son there's not enough here." The casher said.

The little boy dug through his pockets again but didn't find any more money. He turned toward David with his pockets turned out.

"Mama made Christmas good at our house; though most years she just did without Tell me Sir, what am I going to do?" the little boy asked. "I have to buy her these shoes."

I couldn't not do anything for the boy so I turned to the cashier.

"How much more does he need?" I asked.

"They cost forty dollars, and he needs twenty five more to cover the whole cost." The cashier said.

I took out two twenty dollar bills and lay them down on the counter.

"Give him his money back." I told them.

The cashier took the money I had laid down and gave me the changed from it and gave the little boy the shoes –now inside a bag—along with the money he was going to use for them.

"Thank you sir, Mama's going to look great." He said to me as he ran out of the store. I would never forget that look of joy ever.

**Eighteen Years Later**

"All right Rossi what do you do as a Christmas tradition if you aren't home?" Morgan asked.

"Um I just go to a store where people are shopping no matter where I'm at and pay for one person's shopping cart weather they have it filled with food or gifts."

"That's so sweet." Garcia said. "Where did you get that idea?" she asked.

"I got the idea nearly twenty years ago." Rossi said. "I had been in Las Vegas for a case and we had wrapped it up. I went to a mall there to finish up some Christmas shopping and it was the day before Christmas Eve there was a little a boy about ten years old may be older or younger I'm not sure."

Rossi stopped talking for a minutes.

"Come on finish telling us." Garcia said.

"The boy in question was holding a box of shoes, he didn't have enough money for them and turned around to me and said that he wanted to get them for his mother who was sick and usually did without come Christmas time. I paid for the shoes and allowed him to keep the money he was using to pay for the shoes with."

"Do you have any idea what happen to the boy?" Morgan asked.

"No I never even learned his name. He ran out of the store clutching the shoes before I could even ask." Rossi said. "He would be in his late twenties by now."

"I know who that boy was," Reid said.

"How do you know?" Rossi asked him.

"I know who that boy was because that boy was me." Reid replied. "I was nine and my mother hadn't been out of bed in weeks and she hadn't eaten in days, it was before I knew what made her sick and I honestly thought that she was going to die that night."


	2. Christmas Shoes Part2

**Christmas ShoesPt2: **

**Spencer Reid, David Rossi**

You had Rossi's side of the story and through that mine. While my mom was sick that year she wasn't sick in the sense that she was going to die unless it was at her own hand and that was highly likely at that time. I did recognize him a little bit when he re-joined the BAU but I said nothing because even with my eidetic memory I wasn't sure if it was him. It had been eighteen years after all and he and I had both aged.

"Hey pretty boy you alright?" Morgan asked.

"I'm good." I replied.

"So you knew Rossi eighteen years ago."

"Knew him no but met him yes." I replied.

"How come you never said anything?" Morgan asked.

"I had no reason to and Rossi didn't do it to get noticed." I told him. "If he did want to get notice for it he would have said something beforehand."

Just as Morgan was going to reply my phone went off telling me it was time for me to leave if I wanted to make my appointment.

"Sorry Morgan I have to go." I said.

I picked up my bag and jacket and left. I could hear Morgan calling out to me. I would have invited them along but this is something I would have to do on my own. I hadn't told anyone that I was coming here not even Olivia and Jane. I called for a cab when I was alone earlier. I gave them an address for where I was headed to and waited until they pulled up in front of the small brick building.

"Mr. Reid you are here."

"Uh yes I just got here."

"Come on. Before we let all the kids in, we will be organizing everything." The woman told me. "We will be organizing them by type. Then the size within that type and the color within that size."

"I got it," I replied.

She showed me where everything was kept. I spent the next hour sorting through all the boxes. There were only about a hundred boxes well maybe more but I wasn't sorting them all only a few of them.

"The kids are here."

"Okay," I mumbled.

I walked out into the main room where the kids were all waiting. There was a line.

"Mr. Reid we want you over here."

I went to where the volunteer pointed. I kneeled down so I would be at the lever of the kids.

"How can I help you?" I asked awkwardly.

"I just want Green ones." The girl said.

"Do you know what your size is?"

"No," the girl replied.

"Can I check your shoe to see?"

The girl sat down and held out her foot so I could see what her size was.

I walked to the back room got a pair of simple green shoes and gave them to the girl. She walked away with a bright smile on her face. I then spent the next spent the next three hours doing the same thing.

"So this is what you were up to?" someone asked from behind me.

I spun on my heel so quick that I nearly fell over. Olivia was standing there.

"Yes." I replied.

"Well I'm glad you are doing charity and not sneaking around with a woman like a coworker of mine said you were."

"I could never do that to you besides you are one of three girls that have shown interest in me." I told her.

"I'm sure that's not true." Olivia replied.

"If they have then I haven't seen it." I replied back.

"You are blind to things that are rather simple Spencer."

"I get that because I still have no idea what you are doing here?" I asked.

"Oh me and a few friends banded together to make cookies for everyone here that had volunteered and for the kids as well." She said.

"It looks like you made a whole store full."

"We just might have. We each picked out a kind of cookie we wanted to make." She said. "And we made as much as we could afford to make of that tape of cookie. Some of us choose to make healthier versions of the cookies to."

"What did you make?"

"The cookie of the season, gingerbread men and girls. I made sure to make both so no one would get offended." She said. "Are you done here?"

"The last pair of shoes was just given away."

"Okay so am I. Let's get out of here and go get a cup of coffee before we have to get Jane from JJ's." she said. "And you can tell me how you got involved since I've told you how I did."

"That's fair." I replied.

Ten minutes later I was walking down the street with coffee in my hand. I knew that Olivia wanted to know how I had gotten involved but I also knew that she wasn't going to pester me about it. So finally after three blocks of walking I decided to speak up.

"You still want to know why?" I asked.

"Yes I do." She replied.

"I got involved with that charity because it helps me say thank you to someone who helped me buy a pair of shoes for my mom years ago." I said. "She honestly didn't need the shoes but I was so insistent that they would make her feel better and went to buy them myself. I was short on money but a man standing behind me stepped up and paid the whole price of the shoes for me."

"That was so sweet of them. Do you know who it was?" Olivia replied.

"I didn't know until a few years ago when I officially met them." I told her.

"How?" she asked.

"I work with them every single day unless they or I have it off."

"That isn't often."

"That's True."

"So who was it?" she asked.

"You know them as David Rossi."


	3. Chain of Love

**Chain of Love: Will & J.J. **

William LaMontagne (junior that is) drove along a back road in Virginia. He was late getting home to his wife and son and could wait to do so. He was almost home and only had a few miles left to go. It was nearly Christmas and J.J. was home alone with their son Henry and two more kids she offered to watch as their parents or guardians had other things to do.

He saw a car on the side of the road and passed it just as he saw someone hope out of the car and wave their hands trying to get his attention. Will turned around to see what was wrong or if they needed any help. He pulled up behind them and an older woman rushed over to his car.

"Is everything okay ma'am?" he asked.

"My car it has a flat and I don't know how to change it," she said.

"That's all right ma'am I can help you. By the way my name is Will." He replied. "Do you have anything to change the tire in your car?"

"I'm Maria if I do it's in the trunk."

"Could you pop it for me?"

"Oh sure."

A few minutes later Will was pushing the spare tire on and rolling the blown one to the back of the car where he hoisted it into the trunk.

"Thank you for helping me. I was only passing through so I had no idea who to call and a hundred cars drove by before you stopped." She said.

Will made sure the blown tire was secure and close her trunk and went to walk back to his car.

"Excuse me sir how much do I owe you?"

"**You don't owe me a thing, I've been there too Someone helped me out, Just like I'm helping you If you really want to pay me back, Here's what you do Don't let the chain of love end with you**."

Will waved goodbye to Maria and walked back to his car. He drove home and J.J. wasn't there. He turned the Christmas lights on. He turned the tree lights on too. So she and Henry would have something to help them see when they got home.

He moved upstairs put his gun and badge away before he went to take a shower before he climbed into bed. It took him a while to fall asleep. He was just drifting off when he heard the sounds of car pulling up.

Maria drove a few miles down the road and stopped at a small store. She needed to eat and most restaurants were closed at this time of night. She didn't plan to stay long. She's get something to eat and then be on her way. She walked around the small store looking for something that didn't need to be cooked or heated up. While doing this she spotted a woman talking to a little boy and rubbing her extended stomach.

"Do you need something?" the woman asked when she spotted Maria looking.

"Oh no dear I was just looking." Maria replied.

Maria didn't want to cause anymore work for the woman who looked so tired that she was just about dead on her feet. She grabbed a box from the shelf behind them and went to find something she could eat with it.

When the woman went to check out Maria walked behind her. She felt a little weird walking behind the woman but there was only one check out open and only one way to get to it. The placed her things on the conveyor belt and waited to pay for her things.

"I can help you over here ma'am." A male worker said.

Maria walked over to the next checkout lane and had her things rung up. The man did it quickly.

"_I'm sorry I don't know where my card went." The woman said. "Oh I probably left it at home."_

Maria paused for a second she pulled and extra bill out of her wallet and took a blank sheet of paper from a small notebook she kept and wrote a note.

"Could you give this to that woman? I owe it to her but I have to get home." Maria said.

The man nodded and took the note and bill in his hand. Maria quickly slipped out the door with her things. She was gone before the woman even finished the note.

"Mommy what is that?" the little boy asked.

"Nothing Henry, Let's get home. I'm sure daddy is waiting for us."

"Okay mommy."

The duo walked out of the store with their own purchases. The extra money felt heavy in the woman's hands. She didn't need it. So as they passed the man dressed as Santa ringing the bell she shoved all the money into the container the kettle standing next to him along with the note.

She drove home and the Christmas lights were still on and shining. She made her son go up to his room and get ready for bed. She put everything away and turned off the Christmas lights off. She got Henry changed and into bed and went to climb into her own bed. Will was already there. He was a sound asleep. She went to the closet and changed out of her street clothes and into her pajamas. She then slipped into bed right next to him.

He instinctively rolled over and pulled her close.

"I love you will." She whispered before falling asleep.

…_don't let the chain of love end with you._

The next morning husband and wife woke up. Neither one said anything about the night before in detail. Will just said he helped a woman change a tire. J.J. said that she donated to the Salvation Army or whatever charity was outside the store the night before. They spent the next few hours watching Christmas specials on TV. They put new ornaments on to the tree, including one for the new baby.


	4. I'm Already Taken

Hotch & Jessica: I'm Already Taken by Steve Wariner

_"Okay my pretty's all you have to do is pick a name out of the hat and buy a gift for them." Garcia said. "No more than twenty dollars can be spent."_

_She shook the little hat at the team. It was a team /family dinner we were having and Garcia decided that we should have a game of Secret Santa to heighten our spirits. I wasn't quite sure if it would work but Garcia wasn't someone you could say no to. Garcia then took the time to move from each team member and family member holding the hat out._

_"You to boss man." She said shaking the hat in my face._

_I reached into the hat and pulled a name out. I unfolded the paper and looked at it. Jessica Brooks was the name written neatly on it._

_"Now the party is Friday. The gifts should be bought and wrapped by then."_

"Aaron it's time for the party we have to get going. You don't want Jack to be up so late." Jessica said.

"I know." I told her.

"Jack," I called.

"Coming dad," he yelled. He held a small box in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to the box.

"Penelope included the kids too." Jessica said. "She had them draw names before all the adults did and he refuses to say who he got but he has also made the gift entirely himself."

"Well good job Jack." I told him. "Get your coat on."

"Okay but no peaking. You get to see what it is when they open it," He replied setting the box down.

He ran over to the coat rack and pulled his coat down and slipped it on by himself. He walked back over to me so I could zip the coat up. I handed him his gift and led him and Jessica out the door. We drove to the restaurant Garcia had booked for the party.

"Hotch, Jess and Jack you are finally here." Garcia said when the stepped into the room.

"Yes we are." I replied.

"You can set your gifts over on that table. Take the name tag with your person's name on it and stick it to the gift."

"Okay." I replied.

I walked over to the table and set my gift down. The name was already written on it so I didn't have to use the name tag but I looked for it anyway. I saw that Jessica and Jack were doing the same thing. The name tags were all laid face down so we couldn't see who was already picked.

I finally found Jessica's name and picked it up from the table.

"Come on everyone let's eat." Garcia called.

Every one sat down at the table. I sat with Jessica on one side of me and Jack on the other. Jack was talking with Olivia's niece Jane. Spencer and Olivia were on the other side of her with J.J., Will and Henry next to them with Derek, Penelope, Emily, and David filling in the seats that were left open.

We spent the next hour or so eating and talking about anything and everything but things related to our jobs. The kids ended drifting off into a corner of the room talking to each other after the food was all done.

"…but statistics say that…"

"Reid, come on drop the statistics for one night." Morgan said.

"Derek you should know that he can't." David said. "It's to engrained in him besides I would be careful he could bring about another prank war."

"No we do not need another one of those." J.J. said. "The last one was bad enough and nearly had Reid getting suspended."

"That is why you don't prank a genius." I told them.

"Oh I agree the whole revenge of the nerd's thing comes into play." Garcia said.

"I'm not a nerd." Reid protested. "And besides you helped me on a few of them Garcia."

"That is because Derek needed to learn the lesson of not judging a book by its cover." Garcia replied. "Well it is nearly time for everyone to leave so it's time for gifts." She added clapping her hands. "Now I've typed and printed a list of names and put them all in this hat. One by one they will be drawn out. You boss man can pick the first name."

I raised an eyebrow up at her.

"Just do it." She said.

I sighed and reached my hand into the hat. I went to the bottom and picked the name there.

"David Rossi." I said reading the name allowed.

Garcia handed him the gift.

"Amazon gift card thanks." Dave said after opening it (it was from Morgan). Garcia had him pick the next name. "Spencer Reid."

He was handed his gift and opened it. It was a box set of books.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Reid I have taken it upon myself to inject more pop culture into your life. Starting with that series." J.J. said.

We continued like that for everyone. Garcia went after Reid and received a collection of furry pens from Emily. Morgan got a plane ticket from Will to see his mom. I got a tie from Jane. Olivia got Will a gift certificate for the bass pro shop. She got a cross necklace from Reid. Jess got Henry a bunch of plastic army men. J.J. got a scrapbook for her new baby from Garcia. Jack painted a small jewelry box for Jane. Henry got jack a packet of cars and Emily didn't say what she got from David.

Now there was me and my gift for Jessica. It was something that Hayley had left behind for her. I hadn't found it until a few weeks ago and Jessica didn't know about it.

"Well Jessica that leaves you." Garcia said handing her the box.

Jessica's eyes went from person to person as she pulled the ribbon off the box. She then ripped the wrapping paper off the box and then removed the lid. She gasped when she saw it.

"This was our aunts, Hayley said she lost it."

"She did and I know she would want you to have it." I told her. "I found it a few weeks ago when I was packing up some of her things."

"You should keep it." She said. "Our aunt gave it to Hayley with the intention that she gave it to her daughter. It should go to Jack."

"It should go to you it's meant for a daughter. Right now that's you." I told her. "Hayley left a letter saying that it should go to you."

"How?" Jessica asked. "It happened so—"

"Yes it did but because of my job Hayley and I wrote new letters every six months about where we wanted certain things to go after we die." I told her. "The letter I found was written two weeks before she died. It was almost as if she knew."

"The letter can I read it?" she asked.

"Yeah I'll give it to you when we get home." I told her. My phone went off. "Sorry I have to get this."

I stepped to the side of the room and answered it.

"Hotchner you have gotten a missing child case out of Jasper, Missouri."

"How long?"

"Eight hours. The family went to a Christmas tree lot for a tree. They looked away for a second to get the tree in the truck and the kid was gone. Security camera footage shows a blond woman carrying the boy off."

"Is this the first?"

"No another child was taken yesterday from another lot but the two abductions are not the only reasons why you have been called in is because the second child taken has diabetes and he could slip into a diabetic coma if it's not taken care of properly."

"What about the first child anything we should be worried about with them?"

"The family hasn't said anything but looking at pictures of both children they look strikingly similar."

"All right we'll go." I said.

I hung up the phone and turned toward the team. I had to tell them that we were being called out on a case. They were all looking at me.

"Sorry guys wheels up in sixty."

"I'll take Jack home," Jessica said. "Why not bring all the kids over too they could have a sleep over and would get them over the fact that their parents have left." She added.

The kids all cheered in agreement. We spent the next thirty minutes getting the kids rounded up and over to my house. Once the kids were settled I would leave.

"Well they are all okay you can tell that to yourself and their mothers and fathers."

"Thank you for this Jess, I'm sure Jack will love it."

"I know he will now get going and save those boys."

"I will." I replied.

Without thinking about it I kissed her cheek and left.

* * *

**The Case that they leave for will be the subject of my next case fic so any suggestions of a tittle will be welcomed. The chapter was inspired by the video for the song. Hayley and her sister Jessica representing the blonde haired little girl.**

**Maye**


	5. A Christmas Story

**Derek & Penelope: The Insperation is Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Story'**

**_"…could have saved the kid from being blind." _**_I had yelled at Hotch in my angry rant earlier. It almost made me hate the job. A kid only five years old lost his eye sight because Hotch wouldn't let me go in. It was two days ago that this happened. We had arrived home yesterday and I was still angry._

_"Come on Morgan I know you are in there."_

_"Go away Garcia I don't want to talk."_

_"Derek Morgan either you can let me in or I can get in myself."_

_I walked over to the door and threw it open knowing that she would find away into my home if I didn't open it for her. She walked in._

_"You should change. I'm taking you somewhere." She said._

_"I don't want to go anywhere." I replied._

_"I don't care you are coming with me," She said. "Now go changed. I don't want to be late."_

_I grumped and whined like a little kid the whole time I changed. I settled on jeans and a t-shirt since Garcia said that being causal was okay. I grabbed a jacket and walked out the door with Garcia waiting for me. She made me sit in her car since she didn't really seem to trust me to drive myself._

_"I would have let you drive yourself but this is a surprise and I don't want anything to be given away." She said. "But then again right now you were likely to just turn around when you couldn't see me anymore."_

_She pulled up to an expansive looking garden area._

_"Come on get out now. We have a bit of a walk before we get where were going but my car can't go any further." Garcia said._

_She led me into the garden. It like one of the gardens you would see at a castle in England. The walk took about ten minutes for us. We finally came to a stop in a little cobbled stone section of the garden. There were a twenty of easels set up with pictures set up on them. She walked me over to one of them. I recognize the woman in the photograph but I still couldn't place her._

_"That is Erica Borden; she was kidnapped when she was thirteen. She was also one of your first cases in the BAU." She walked me over to the next one._

_I recognize the picture right away. It was Ellie with her hair re-grown._

_The next one was of twin girls. The case had come last year; the girls had been kidnapped by a man who wanted them for money and a woman who just wanted baby. The twins were followed by a picture of my cousin._

_"These two were victims of two separate stalkers, you saved them both. Then there are the group photos of mass shooting that you help prevent more than one life could have been lost if you hadn't help stop him." She said. "Then you have several victims that were nearly killed by serial killers but you got to them in time you saved them. They are laughing and smiling in these photos because you saved them. You can't tell me the jobs not worthy doing while looking at all these faces."_

_I couldn't look at her. I looked at my cousin's picture one more time but my head started to hurt like I had been hit in the back of the head with the butt of a gun again. _

_"What are all these pictures doing here?" I asked._

_"They are here to show you the work you are meant to do." Garcia said. "You helped saved all these lives even if they were injured in some way. No one comes away from the crimes you investigate without some kind of problem."_

_ I fell to my knees and clutched my head as the pain became unbearable. I could just barely hear someone calling my name as the darkness consumed me._

"Derek come on it's been hours now you need to wake up." The voice said.

I groaned. I just wanted to sleep. I wanted whoever it was to leave me alone. I tried raising my hand to push them away but I couldn't. A few minutes later I was blinking the darkness away.

"Hey the dark night awakes."

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You got hit in the head by the unsub."

"But I wasn't working a case. I was at home."

"Yes and we got a case here the day after you got back." She said. "You and the team found the unsub and went to her apartment and were in the process of looking for her when she hit you over the head with a lamp in the master bedroom. Rossi and Prentiss got to her before she could make her escape."

"So what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing you just had a concussion, the doctors were waiting for you to wake up so they could see how you were doing you know all that mumbo jumbo they do when someone gets hit on the head and passes out."

"Oh when can I go home?" I asked.

"You can go home when the doctor tells you that you can." She said. "But you will be home in time and thanks to the key I have to your place I was able to leave a surprise for you with the help of my godson and some of his friends."

"That make me wonder." I said. "But I am sure that I will love it."

Late the next day I was let out of the hospital with the express warring that if I felt off I was to return immediately. I was driven home by Penelope. She refused to let anyone else because of the surprise. She unlocked the door and pushed me through it.

And sure enough I was surprised because standing in the corner of my living room was a hand-made decorated Christmas tree.


	6. Silent Night

**Prentiss & Mick (the british guy from Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior) The story is inspired by the story of Jesus's Birth (i.e. Silent Night)**

I was traveling through England on foot. I had taken three weeks off and spent two weeks over in America visiting my old BAU colleges. I was now spending a week traveling around rural England on foot. I was happy with my life now but I wanted some time to myself. It was getting close to night fall when I was passing a deep creek bed and heard the screams of help. I walked to the edge of the bridge I was about to cross and saw the over turned car.

"Finlay please can you help me. My wife she's in the car and pregnant. I need help to get her out." a man said.

"How is your wife doing?"

"She's fine she just wants out of the car."

"She's not in labor is she?"

"No at least not that we know of."

"Hold on and let me get down there." I told him. I walked around the barrier on either side of the bridge and down the slope of the bank to help the man get is pregnant wife out of the car. It took us a few minutes to clear the glass away and get the door open to get his wife out. When we got her up to the dry part of the bank I offered her some of my dry clothing.

"I couldn't do that." She said.

"Please take it. Your pregnant and can't afford to get sick. They might be a little small on you but it would be better than getting sick."

"Um… thank you." She said.

"You can get changed and when you are done your husband and you can join me in finding shelter for the night." I told her.

I walked away from the couple to give them some privacy as he helped her changed into the dry clothing I gave her. I sat down on the brick barrier of the bridge and waited. I heard their footsteps a few minutes later. The man had his arm protectively around her.

"So which way are we headed?" He asked.

"I was headed north." I told him. "There is a farm up that way; I figured there could be a barn or something we could use as shelter for the night."

"Okay." The man said.

They walked in front of me and continued to do so for about an hour until we found a barn we could use for the night. There was a lot of hay in the barn. It was clean so we were able to use it for bedding. I gave them the only blanket I had and went to find a privet section of the barn for myself.

I found a place up in the loft part of the barn. I put my things up there and went to tell the couple where I would be.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm up in the loft." I told them. "Are you two okay?"

"We are fine." The man replied. "A little worried about our little guy coming early."

"Well I have some medical training so you won't be completely hopeless if he decides to come early."

"Thank you. I'll come get you if anything changes."

"How far along is she?" I asked.

"Nine months so the baby could come any day now."

"What about back pain?" I asked.

"No pain. It is a little stiff but that would happen to anyone sitting for hours in one spot." The woman replied.

"Just let me know if you start to have any kind of pain." I told them. "You both could have injuries you don't know about."

"We will."

I left them alone after that. I went back to the loft and snuggled further into my jacket for the night. I could see the moon from the open loft doors. I soon found myself drifting off to sleep but I was soon woken up by a hand touching my shoulder. I pushed them away and pulled out my ankle gun ready to shoot if I had to.

"Hey hey don't shoot I was making sure that you were okay." They said their face was in the shadows so I couldn't see. "I ran into a couple down stairs and they said you were up here. You didn't react when I called for you."

"Who are you?" I asked. I kept my gun up and aimed at them as they took a few steps into the light so I could see their face. "Mick, what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were still working with cooper."

"I came home for Christmas and have yet to leave."

"No I meant what are you doing here in this barn?"

"My family owns it." He replied. "It's just a small farm really. The farms on either side of it are much larger. Why are you here?"

"Traveling through the area on foot, the couple down stairs had an accident and their car crashed into that creek a few miles back."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two but my wife's water just broke,"

We all rushed down to where his wife was and sure enough his wife's water had broken or had broken at some point in the night but just now noticed it, I was leaning toward the latter option because the babies' head could already be seen. I didn't look but I supported the woman as she pushed.

"Why aren't they crying?" The woman asked she finished pushing.

I took the baby in my arms and cleared the air way and right away the baby started to cry.

"He just needed his air way cleared." I told her. "He's perfectly fine now. We should get her and him out of here. They need to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Do you have a cell phone?"

I said the last part to Mick.

"No but my house is only a short walk from here."

"Mick she just had a baby I don't think she is going to be able to walk."

"She won't have to. I have a cart I was going to use for the bales of hay we can use it to carry her to the house."

We spent the next ten minutes loading the woman and her baby into the cart. A horse was tied up to it.

"You stay in the back with them." Mick said. "Keep an eye on her; I don't know anything about child birth but she could have other things that need to be done."

"I know that." I replied. "She seems okay. A little pale for my taste but she did just give birth twenty minutes ago."

"I get that." Mick said. "Hold tight."

He set the horse in motion and we began to move. The man and I worked to keep his wife still as we moved toward Mick's house. Mick pulled to a stop in front of a much smaller barn than the one we had taken shelter in. Mick and her husband helped her into the house while I held the baby as we went inside.

Mick immediately called for an ambulance and then went to get a towel to wrap the baby up in after cleaning him off. Once that was done we handed him back to his mother.

"Thank you both for your help. She's still be stuck in that car if it weren't for you."

"It was nothing and actually saving people is kind of our job, well it is my job but I'm not sure about Mick here." I told them.

"What do you do?"

"I work for Interpol."

"Between jobs," Mick said. "The ambulance is here, you stay here with them and I'll go let them in."

He did that and two men came in with bags of medical equipment and a stretcher. The checked both the mother and baby out and quickly got them on to the stretcher. The father had climbed in the back of the ambulance with them and they were off.

"So what were you doing all the way out here?" Mick asked. "You are working for Interpol and all."

"I was on vacation."

"Where's your car?"

"I was on foot." I replied. "What about you being in between jobs?"

"It's the truth I'm between jobs. Technically I'm still under the employ of the FBI but I'm transferring to Scotland Yard."

"Why?"

"I would think it was obvious. I wanted to be closer to my family." He said. "Mum and Dad are getting up in age and aren't doing so well right now. I'm lucky they let me live this close."

"I should get going."

"Stay here for the night." He said. "There's a guest room. There is no point in walking all that way back to sleep in a drafty old barn shivering your arse off all night. You know you want to stay."

"What make you think that?"

"Because you want me just as bad,"


End file.
